How often do you suffer from pain? If the sales of pain medication in this country are anything to go by, it's quite often. As much as those little white (or blue) pills help you get through that hockey game, or business meeting, or shopping trip they won't fix the under-lying problem.

And it is quite likely the underlying problem is inflammation - an immune response. And since 70 per cent of our immune system cells are found along the lining of the digestive tract, it makes sense that food fits into the equation in a big way.

Holistic nutritionist Julie Daniluk studied inflammation, and has come up with a detailed dietary plan she says will not only help eliminate pain but can cure the root cause of inflammation.

Since inflammation has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and diseases like arthritis, gastritis, colitis, dermatitis, nephritis, neuritis and cystitis (that what the suffix "itis" means, inflammation), you might want to pay attention if any of those things worry you.

Daniluk devotes the first part of this book to explaining her take on inflammation in depth, providing an easy-to read explanation of what is a complex subject. Offering both quick, bullet-point and chart-illustrated highlights for those who prefer their information bite-size and well written texts for those who want more of a narrative, she explains her "six main causes of inflammation" as: . toxicity - cellular injury caused by exposure to a chemical or physical agent;

This is quite a personal book for Daniluk, she offers examples from her own return-to-wellness story, while making a good case for sacrificing the few moments of tastebud exhilaration you get from your favourite junk food snack for the long-term happiness that being healthier and pain-free brings.

"It comes down to long-term happiness over short-term pleasure," Dani-luk says in the book. "The fun begins when your body and brain are free of the restrictions caused by your aliments. If you could return to the state of wellness you had as a child, you would probably return to laughing a hundred times a day.

Daniluk was certainly laughing a lot and having fun when I spoke with her last week as she made a flying visit to Vancouver to promote the book.

"They've got me running all over the place," she told me, "it's great!"

Daniluk is used to being busy - she has a reality cooking show on OWN called Healthy Gourmet, creates healthy recipes for publication in Chatelaine magazine and has made appearances on The Dr. Oz Show, The Marilyn Denis Show and The Right Fit.

So how does someone so busy eat well on the road?

Daniluk packs one third of her lug-gage with "emergency food" when travelling to ensure she is able to access a nutritious snack. And when she arrives at her destination the first thing she does is check her smart phone for the nearest health food store, where she stocks up with more healthy options. She is a big fan of a health bar consisting mostly of seeds bound with a little honey, and hemp hearts. "I almost always have a packet of hemp seeds in my pocket," she says with another hearty laugh.

She loved the healthy vibe she felt while she was in Vancouver. "People here are so accepting of alternatives and doing things a different way."

And when eating out? Daniluk admits she can be a challenging diner. "I eat a lot of à la carte. I ask the kitchen if they will create a gluten-free, dairy-free, low-GI dish for me. Mostly they enjoy the challenge, or they tell me they do," she chuckles.

Doing things differently is what most of you will have to embrace to follow Daniluk's advice. She provides a detailed plan of how to start making the necessary changes - from lists to help you cleanse your kitchen of all possible evils to strategies to wean you off your lunchtime burger with fries.

She provides a very useful anti-inflammatory food pyramid which lists the recommended number of servings per day of various foods, and plenty of advice about tailoring your diet to suit your individual needs - some may be only able to tolerate minimal amounts of certain foods like grains or dairy (and Daniluk also provides tools to help you identify your tolerances).

She uses the categories of green light (healing), yellow light (caution) and red light (hurting) to explore food categories and explain what foods have what effect in detail. There are checklists to see what state of inflammation you might be in, and practical tips galore.

The second part of this book is com-posed of 130 recipes to help you heal. There is no nutritional numerical breakdown of recipes, which I found refreshing. Instead, Daniluk has created her own legend with symbols indicating various dietary values - free of eggs, free of soy, free of dairy, free of tree nuts, low GI (being less than 55 on the glycemic index which measures how fast a carbohydrate triggers a rise in circulating blood sugar), gluten-free, and containing 70 per cent raw ingredients.

The recipes, although not all illustrated, are well-thought out instruction-wise, and the ones I tried were very tasty (I loved the addition of umeboshi to the bok choy stir-fry) and the krispy kale chips with their yeast and sweet potato "cheese" coating were a hit. Many of the recipes cite other benefits on top of reducing inflammation.

"I like that treating health problems with food has side-benefits, rather than side-effects," Daniluk says.

Daniluk spent five years working on this volume, double-checking that all the studies she cites were peer-reviewed. Her care and attention to detail shows.

"Diet can't completely cure inflammation if it is long-standing and set in deeply, but it certainly can have a positive effect."

Daniluk is confident that treating inflammation by diet not drugs will eventually become to be seen as a conventional instead of an alternative treatment. "I am very grateful to people like Dr. Oz ... who are actively promoting a return to a whole food diet."

ttufnail@vancouversun.com Follow Sun staffer Tracey Tufnail as she explores the world of weight loss and alternative nutrition at blogs.vancouversun.com . Healthy Gourmet airs on OWN Saturdays at 11: 30 a.m.

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